Rays 6/7/16 Starting Lineup

Noteworthiness

— The Rays have not announced the pitching probables for the weekend series against the Astros. They also moved scheduled Friday starter Matt Andriese to the bullpen, for Tuesday’s game at least, to bolster the tired group of relievers. In the end, however, that’s only a temporary fix, as there is no indication the starters will pitch deeper into ballgames in the near future.

On the subject, Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote, “That could be a sign they are considering calling up top LHP prospect Blake Snell, who just won Triple-A International League pitcher of the week honors for back-to-back scoreless starts and last worked for Durham on Sunday, which puts him on schedule to pitch Friday.”

If the Rays aspire to something greater beyond the month of September, they’ll have to do something potentially radical to stabilize the starting rotation, and that something could be the call-up of the team’s number one prospect.

Snell already made a positive impression on skipper Kevin Cash, and while his walk rate has ticked up with the Bulls, he’s still proving difficult to hit. Whatever the case, if the team is willing to recall Snell, it could free up another arm as trade bait — namely Matt Moore, who holds a $7.5-Million option in his contract going into the 2017 the season.

Interesting enough, Snell tweeted over the weekend, “What I gotta do…” Take that how you want.

— Logan Forsythe(shoulder fracture) did a full batting and fielding workout at Tropicana Field on Monday. He remains on track to rejoin the team on their upcoming nine-game home stand, starting Friday.

— Evan Longoria said he just needed a day off due to “Total body soreness.” The third baseman based the decision on a “compilation” of things, like fouling ball off his shin over weekend, and taking grounder off his knee. He allowed the decision looks odd considering Zack Greinke is pitching tonight, and the team has an off-day on Thursday, Longoria said he has to “be smart” and “listen” to his body. Both Evan and Kevin Cash said he is available to pinch-hit tonight, or go in as a defensive replacement later if needed.

Snell put together an incredible season, across three levels, where he led the minor leagues in ERA (1.41) and opponents batting average (.182), posted a ridiculous 31.3% K%, and ranked among the overall leaders with 15 wins (third) and 163 strikeouts (fourth). He becomes just the ninth pitcher in 35 years to claim the honor.

Through his first 22 appearances and 119 innings, Snell had allowed a mere 17 earned runs, which meant that he entered play on his Aug. 25 start with a 1.29 ERA that matched Justin Verlander for the lowest such mark by a minor league pitcher in nearly a quarter of a century. Verlander accomplished that feat in 2005, when he zoomed through high Class A Lakeland and Double-A Erie en route to his big league debut with the Tigers on July 4.

Snell, a 22-year-old Rays prospect, did not fall far on the minor league ERA leaderboard. He settled into second place with an ERA (1.410) that tied lefthander Jon Connolly, in his 2003 season at low Class A West Michigan, to three decimal places. Snell’s brush with history helped him earn recognition as the Minor League Player of the Year.

Here are the top 10 composite ERAs posted by minor league pitchers since 1993, the first year in which the BA Almanac takes note of overall minor league leaders. That distinction is important for players who play for multiple minor league clubs in one season, as Snell did in 2015, which he began at high Class A Charlotte before advancing to Double-A Montgomery and, finally, to Durham.

(Table Credit: Matt Eddy/Baseball America)

Eddy continued,

Note that Josh Beckett in 2001 was the only pitcher on this list, other than Snell, to win the Minor League POY award. Also note that every pitcher on the list at least reached the majors, save for the still-prospect-eligible Snell and Glenn Sparkman. (Yes, even Dilson Torres drew a big league paycheck, having logged 44 innings for the 1995 Royals.)

Incidentally, this top 10 ranking of ERAs also constitutes all the qualified pitchers to record an ERA of 1.60 or lower during the past 23 seasons.

That’s pretty good company for the hurler, who is the only pitcher to face a Triple-A batter in his record-challenging ERA season!

That’s not to say Snell is a finished product ― his overall 10.2% BB% is below par, although it improved from 13.4% when he was promoted to Double-A. But to be fair, he was able to collect a 7.6% BB% in nine starts with Durham. His control has shown improvement and it will be interesting to see the case he makes for himself in Spring Training. In the end, Snell could very well crack the roster next season, especially if ― as Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Rays) recently said ― Tampa Bay deals from its surplus of rotation options this offseason.